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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Fact Check Debunks Lie About Ayers Connection

Senator John McCain, in the tradition of the Bush administration, believes if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes fact. They also believe that the media will do much of the work for them and they are correct.

As just one example, how many times have we read the Ayers charge, presented as somehow equivalent in nature to John McCain's association with the 'Keating 5?'

2 independent fact checkers expose Team McCain's lies

The fact checker segment of the Washington Post has taken on the charge by John McCain about his allegedly lying about being a pal of William Ayers.

Michael Dobbs, in his column reports:

The claim that Obama "lied" about his relationship with Ayers rests on his response to a question from George Stephanopoulos of ABC News in a Democratic primary debate in Philadelphia on April 16. Invited to describe his relationship with Ayers, Obama played down its significance.

Going on:

That statement can certainly be read as an attempt by Obama to minimize his dealings with a controversial figure. But it is hard to qualify it as a "lie."

The analysis concludes with this blunt assessment:

The New York Times got it right last week when it noted that the Illinois senator had "played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers."

The McCain campaign is distorting the Obama-Ayers relationship, and exaggerating their closeness. There is no evidence that Obama has "lied" about his dealings with Ayers.

The charge was given '2 pinocchios by Dobbs. This means,

Significant omissions and/or exaggerations. Some factual error may be involved but not necessarily. A politician can create a false, misleading impression by playing with words and using legalistic language that means little to ordinary people.

Voters may differ in how they see Ayers, or how they see Obama’s interactions with him. We’re making no judgment calls on those matters. What we object to are the McCain-Palin campaign’s attempts to sway voters – in ads and on the stump – with false and misleading statements about the relationship, which was never very close. Obama never “lied” about this, just as he never bragged about it. The foundation they both worked with was hardly “radical.” And Ayers is more than a former "terrorist," he’s also a well-known figure in the field of education.